


Tigerboy

by InsertUserNameHerePlease



Category: Fury (2014)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Foster families, Multi, Referanced Child Abuse, Team are a Family, The tiger appears later in the story..., but barely any angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 19:30:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16069790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertUserNameHerePlease/pseuds/InsertUserNameHerePlease
Summary: Boyd and Don’s family felt incomplete. Granted they already had two boisterous male teenagers bouncing off the walls of their small suburban home, but it still felt empty. The loss of the third teenager to his biological family only emphasised that fact. That was until a tiny broken boy appeared in their lives. Oh and what do you know, there’s the tiger he brought with him too.





	Tigerboy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MetalArmMagnets](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MetalArmMagnets/gifts).



Red had been gone for two months. That's all Boyd could really say about that time, that Red had been gone and he left a gaping hole in his wake. Granted they all went on with their lives - Don to his work around the house, Boyd to his own at the architect’s office, and Grady and Gordo to school - and the boys were still their energetic selves never calming or quietening until they were asleep in their beds at the end of the day, but the loss of Red to his biological family had taken something out of them, leaving the 15 and 11 year olds somewhat disheartened. This was one of the reasons why Boyd had approached Don a month ago and told him that he wanted another kid. Don had readily agreed feeling the absence of the 13 year old as much as the rest of them. They had informed the local foster agency about their decision that week, against the wills of their two sons who argued they were just trying to replace Red.

One month later and Boyd received a call from Miles - their close friend who was the social worker who had previously handled both Grady and Gordo’s cases - explaining that there was a new kid in desperate need of homing and asking if Boyd would take him in. _“Take all the time you need,”_ Miles had said when Boyd had pointed out he’d need to discuss it with Don first.

That brought Boyd to his current situation lying beside his partner of 11 years, pondering over how he should broach the subject.

“What you thinkin’ about Bible?” Don's tired voice filtered through the darkness of their room.

“Hmm?” Boyd questioned back.

“You’re thinkin’ about something. What is it?”

“Miles called today,” Boyd answered turning restlessly onto his side to meet Don’s smiling face.

“Yeah, and?” Don asked, excitement radiating from every pore of his being.

“They have a kid they want us to take in,” Don’s face had morphed into a look Boyd understood to mean ‘so when are we getting this kid?’, Boyd shook his head and turned over with a sigh which made Don look back at him in confusion, “Don he’s 5.”

“So he's a little younger than what we were wanting. When’s that ever stopped up before?”

“It's not just that.”

“Then what?” Don reached out to stroke Boyd’s cheek, trying to soothe his obviously worried partner.

“Miles said the kid is in hospital,” Don's eyebrows furrowed, “They don't know to what extent but the kid has been abused. We'd have to deal with all the trauma that brings up. He's not going to be as open as Grady and Gordo nor is he gonna trust us as easily.”

Don was enraged to say the least. Hurting a kid, in Don's book, was one of the worst things a person could ever do.

“I think we should foster him,” he said in a gravelly voice, anger simmering close to the surface.

“I don't think you've thought this through Don-” Boyd started.

“I've thought it through enough, we should take him in. Do you not want to?”

“I do but-”

“Then it's settled,” Don said with a note of finality, “We’ll tell Miles tomorrow.”

Boyd gave a tremulous but hopeful smile. Don had always been rash in his decisions, deciding upon a course before fully considering the consequences. Boyd was the complete opposite; he planned everything, some would say he over-planned but in his opinion it's just being prepared.

“We’ll tell Miles tomorrow,” Boyd repeated settling down to sleep.

* * *

 The morning, as usual, was chaos and did not improve when Gordo and Grady were informed that they were getting a new foster brother today. Shouting accompanied the announcement, along with many other accusations from their two sons of which included Grady yelling, “you're both so fucking stupid!” He was immediately reprimanded by Don as they had agreed that no one was allowed to swear in front of Gordo, yet. This agreement had been made when the younger of the two boys decided to copy everything his older brother did, nobody could agree whether it was adorable or worrying as Grady had a few issues especially when it came to authority and bad language. Grady agreed to the terms after Gordo got into a lot of trouble when he swore in class, he may not like it but he is nothing but protective when it comes to his family.

After a lengthy argument that lasted the whole trip to the bus stop, Don and Boyd finally herded the boys onto the school bus with a final, “just don’t make up your mind before you see him,” from Boyd. The boys seemed to consider his request, mainly because Boyd was always the most sincere when it came to feelings.

Exhausted from the early hour and the boys’ resistance, both men collapsed into the car and headed for the hospital. When they arrived they met Miles, he was leaning against the outside wall, dressed in black jeans and what was his presumably his least rumpled shirt; his black briefcase, no doubt filled with paperwork, was propped on his leg.

“Miles,” greeted Don striding over to the young brunette and shaking his hand with a small smirk, “late night?”

“Glad you decided to take him,” Miles replied, ignoring the question and turning to shake Boyd’s hand, “I was worried for a bit. People don't like taking in abuse cases. Too much extra work. They usually just want a pristine kid with no sad backstory.”

“Yeah well they’re stuck up bastards,” Boyd replied, “We ain’t gonna deny a kid cause of his old life, that ain’t right.”

“I know, I know. Why d’ya think I called you first,” Miles spoke whilst leading them into the reception area of the hospital and through into a private room which held a table and a few chairs. He sat down on one of the chairs and gestured for the others to do the same. He placed his case on the table and took out the relevant paperwork and files.

“So Miles, what's the story?” Don asked, leaning forward with a tight smile.

“Hmm? Oh right. The kid’s name is Norman; he was brought into the ER a week ago,”

“A week?” Boyd exclaimed, “And we only got a call yesterday because?”

“I was getting to that,” Miles responded with his usual air of casual professionalism, “anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, he was brought into the ER a week ago with extensive injuries to his arm, torso, back and legs as well as severe blood loss. Arm broken in two places had to be set in surgery, torso, back and legs both had second degree burns as well as multiple cuts, most of which went quite deep, they required stitching. His back looked like it may have been whipped. Head was also bleeding, kid had a concussion, and a cut on his cheek that also required stitches,” Miles paused for a moment to let the two digest this before continuing, “When he was brought in by his father nothing was originally thought of it but when looking back through previous medical records as well as other evidence of old injuries on the kid and this set of them they suspected abuse and called CPS. It was agreed to take him away from his parents after inspection of his home, finding that his living conditions were not adequate at all, and when seeing his reaction towards his parents when he woke. He recoiled from both of them, especially the father.”

Miles ended the spiel that sounded rehearsed and looked at the faces of Boyd and Don both of which showed barely restrained anger, well Boyd was restraining it. Don had jumped to his feet, pacing like a caged tiger as Boyd sat, anger simmering close to the surface.

“Yeah I know. Not nice. I was called to take his case yesterday. I met him yesterday as well and I am telling you now I almost adopted the kid on the spot. I would have too, Ky even agreed, except for the fact that we're not allowed to. The kid’s underweight and flinches at anything that moves in his proximity. He doesn't talk either we’ve both tried, Ky is his doctor, but to be honest I'm not sure if he can, so we’ll have to deal with that. Any questions?”

There was silence before Don’s quiet and slightly hoarse voice piped up from where he had paused, facing the opposite wall, hands clenched at his sides, “You mentioned his living conditions. What, exactly, were they like?”

Miles grimaced, “They weren't good at all, Don. Kid slept in the basement on a pile of blankets that had probably never been cleaned in his lifetime. When I went to see him he was staring at the bed like it was a Rubix Cube. Kyle says he's been doing that ever since he woke up.”

The other two nodded stiffly and all three lapsed into silence.

“Well, if you're both still sure?” Miles looked up in trepidation as if he thought the two men may have changed their minds with the new information. He breathed a sigh of relief when both men looked straight back at him with determination written on their faces, “Great, so you know how this works, you sign the papers and then I’ll take you to see him.”

* * *

 Dr Kyle Johnson hated his work sometimes. He liked being a doctor, sure, but when people were trying to die on you every five seconds the job got infinitely crapper. Mix that in with the small boy he was in charge of and the abuse case that both he and his boyfriend were trying to sort out, well it was fair to say he wasn't having the best day.

At this point in time he was trying to get the boy to eat something, which had been a daily struggle ever since the boy woke up. He didn't seem to understand that all the food was for him and he didn't have to save some for later.

“Come on Norman, just one more bite. Please? For me?” The small boy looked up at him with his impossibly blue eyes, “Just one?”

Norman looked down at his plate and back at Kyle and back down to his plate again, blinking in confusion. Then slowly he took one more bite of the toast on his plate and looked back at Kyle.

Kyle grinned and then laughed at the indignant look the kid shot at him, “Thanks kid.”

Norman tilted his head to the side in confusion before deciding that maybe he could eat a little more and started to nibble at the piece of toast.

Kyle’s smile grew as he decided that maybe, just maybe today wasn't so bad. A few moments later he saw something in the corner of his eye and turned to see his boyfriend waving in the window gesturing to Norman then to the two people behind him, Don and Boyd. Kyle smiled and then turned back to Norman.

“Hey Norman,” The small boy looked up at him again with an expression that said ‘I am offended you are distracting my attention from my food but am trying not to show it.’ In Kyle’s opinion it was adorable, “You remember when Miles and I told you that we were trying to find you some proper parents, a forever family right?” The small boy nodded cautiously, “Well Miles found some people who want you,” the boy's eyebrows furrowed and he pointed to himself, “Yeah kid, you. And they've come to take you to your new home. I promise they're really nice. They already have two kids. They're nice kids, well mostly. You ok if they come in?”

The small boy thought for a moment before he slowly nodded his head. Kyle turned to the window and gave a small gesture for Miles to bring them in.

When Miles entered with the two men Norman froze looking up at the men with his piercing blue eyes.

Boyd stared back at the small frail boy upon the white sterile bedsheets. He already felt protective of the child who looked like he would break from moving too fast. Don, he knew, would be feeling the same.

“Hey Norman,” Miles said kneeling down before the small boy. The boy finally averted his eyes from Boyd and Don in favour of looking at Miles in trepidation, “Hey kiddo, there's nothing to be afraid of, promise.” Miles smiled warmly at the boy trying to elicit any other emotion from the boy other than fear. The boy smiled timidly back after a while, “See knew you could smile. Anyway Norm, I found you a forever family. They're friends of mine and really nice ok,” The small boy nodded slightly. Miles stood slowly, as if he were dealing with an animal instead of a child, and walked towards Boyd and Don, “These people are Boyd and Don. They may seem big and scary especially this one,” he pointed and smirked at Don, to which Don sent him back a disapproving frown, “but I promise you they are actually more like massive teddy bears.”

Normal looked disbelievingly towards Miles and then glanced again at the two strangers and shrunk back in his bed again. Miles looked at the two men standing slightly awkwardly in the hospital room and gestured his head towards Norman hinting in the most unsubtle manner that they needed to speak to the child. Don’s shoulders deflated slightly conceding to the task and walked forwards, proceeding to kneel beside the bed much like Miles had only moments before.

“Hey kid. I'm Don,” he stalled there, unsure of what to say. It had been much easier with Grady, Red and Gordo, the boys- although sad- had been boisterous and loud, hardly stopping to pay attention to either Boyd or Don when they first met. Norman was the complete opposite. He tracked every movement made in the room without moving himself and tried to avoid any attention directed at him which at this point was practically impossible for the small child. Don looked towards Boyd lost.

“Hello Norman,” Boyd started swooping in to Don's rescue, “I'm Boyd, one of your new foster fathers. Me and this big oaf are gonna take care of you from now on. Is that ok?”

Norman looked up at Boyd in confusion for a few moments then slowly nodded his head. Boyd and Don smiled at the child who they knew was going to fit perfectly into their family. Well they hoped.

* * *

 It took another hour and a half to get Norman out of the hospital. Forms had to be filled in, discussions over diets had to be had, future appointments had to be made and Norman had to trust them enough to leave with them. It was exhausting.

By the time they had got Norman into the child seat in the back of the car and started on the trip back home Don felt like he was going to collapse from exhaustion. This did not help when he was the designated driver. Boyd had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, resting his head upon the window, smiling softly. Norman on the other hand was wide awake, using the rear view mirror to keep tabs on Don’s every movement.

“You ever take a break kid?” Don asked jovially. Norman continued to stare at him. _‘That's a no then,’_ Don thought, “It's ok kid, you're safe, you can sleep, nothing's gonna hurt you.”

Norman tilted his head in a confused manner and looked at him in disbelief.

“I'm being serious,” Norman shook his head a little and went back to staring at him through the mirror. Don sighed and continued driving towards their house occasionally glancing back at the small child keeping watch of him like a mouse waiting for a cat to pounce.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so this story actually started years ago when I watched Fury at 2 in the morning and then I texted my mate (Lois)((an absolute legend who deserves my thanks and much more for putting up with my idiotic arse)) precisely 200 texts explaining this crazy-ass plot that I then started to write. That was in 2016. I didn’t publish it until now as I kept forgetting but here it is... it’s not even finished and to be perfectly honest I don’t know if it will ever be, so I am sorry in advance.
> 
> A few notes:  
> 1) Kyle and Miles - they were in the film in separate scenes...so Miles is that soldier who the crew meet before going to rescue soldiers in the field (and he is named like once in the film?) and Kyle was medic number one. The two never met in canon but for some reason my friend and I started shipping them? It was 2 years ago...I have no further explanation.  
> 2) Age wise I think the plan was Grady’s 15, Gordo’s 11 and Norman’s 5. Red is 13. I may have said that somewhere. I dunno anymore.  
> 3) about the tiger, she’s not here yet but the reason it’s already mentioned is that was what started this entire idea off. It was that bit in the movie where they fought the tiger...you’ll see...probably.
> 
> The list will most likely get longer later but we’ll stick with 3 points for now.
> 
> Please comment, kudos, subscribe etc and all that. Thanks!


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